Lord’s Test: England win by 196 runs

England captain Andrew Strauss said on Monday that a determined and disciplined bowling display by his bowlers against the strong Indian batting line-up, helped his side to win the first of four Tests at Lord’s in the npower series.

Talking to mediapersons after the end of the match, Strauss described India’s batting line-up as the most talented in international cricket, but added that winning the 100th Test between the two countries and the 2000th overall by 196 runs was the icing on the cake that England required going into the remaining three Tests.

James Anderson was the home side’s hero on the final day, taking five wickets for 65 runs, including the wickets of Rahul Dravid (36), VVS Laxman (56) and Sachin Tendulkar (12). The trio have accumulated more than 35,000 Test runs between them for the world’s top-ranked side, with Tendulkar holding the world record of 14,738 runs.

Strauss preferred to praise the overall contribution of Anderson, Chris Tremlett, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann rather than dwell on individuals.

"I think over the two innings, that was just closed to the perfect bowling performances as we have had in the last two years and I am not saying a lot because we have bowled exceptionally well quite consistently so, I think we are in the right to take all wickets and that is what you can do as a bowling unit," said Strauss.

"I think it was a great atmosphere, you expect Indians to have a lot of support over here and it was fantastic. India has lot of supports for us as well and that added to the mix, we all appreciate playing test matches in front of full houses that Kevin said it makes you feel like you doing something important and makes you feel that every wicket you take and every run you score is appreciated by someone," said Strauss.

Spectators queued throughout the early hours of the morning for the last day of the 2,000th test with 20,000 tickets available for the last rites of a consistently engrossing match.

More than 25,000 people crammed into the game’s world headquarters in addition to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) members with support equally divided for England and India. By Praful Kumar Singh (ANI)